Beauty's on the surface wearing thin
by Never the End127
Summary: It takes Skye a moment to realize that Raina isn't calling her by her name. It's an unfamiliar sound, something new and alluring and completely freaking ridiculous. Something fancy and pretentious-sounding, and Skye's not even sure she wants to know what it is.


To Skye, rules have always been sort of like fingernails. She assumes that they serve some sort of purpose- she just doesn't have a damn clue what that purpose may be.

Ward would agree. Which is kind of sickening, to think that they might agree on something, but whatever.

She's breaking the rules again. So what? This had never been an issue for her before. She used to lie to the nuns every day since she learned how- yes, of course she'd been at mass that morning. No, she had no idea who had taken the bottle of wine used for communion. Of course she was a virgin- everyone knew that sex was the typewriter of the devil.

(In which case, Skye had recently written an entire book. But sisters Janice and Mary Robert did not _need_ to know that.)

Skye fell back in her seat at her desk, watching lines of code scroll up and down over the screen.

She was looking for Ward. Coulson would throw a fit if he found out, May would kill her, and Simmons would stop talking to her altogether. She knew that.

But she had to know where he was.

Had to know if he was okay.

She isn't sure when the symbols start appearing. She's not entirely sure when the figures and threads of code start to twist into a map, circles and lines and symbols with a foreign word to them. But they're still there.

She's asleep before she wants to be, and yeah, that keyboard is going to leave criss-crossed marks on her face when she wakes up, but she's too tired to make herself move. The code and the language have all blended together, swirling around in her head, and the bout of exhaustion and dizziness that sweeps over her is overpowering.

* * *

><p>Raina. Raina is her first thought. No pictures, no words- Skye's dream is based purely on the annoying connotation she associates with that name.<p>

Then her mind starts to form a scene. A picture of a familiar place, but Skye doesn't know what it is. Someplace dark and frightening, the place where monsters used to chase her in her dreams. The place where all her nightmares ended, and Raina is standing in front of her.

She has something in her hands, but Skye doesn't know what it is. She doesn't think it's all that important. It's Raina's presence itself that's significant, because this is Skye's secret place and no one else is supposed to be there.

"You belong with us, Skye." Raina says, and Skye hates the way she says her name. Hates that she's right. "Come home."

"No." Skye's pretty sure she says that out loud.

Raina wrings her hands, appearing distressed though her face shows no emotion. "We need you, Skye. We need you to lead us."

"Get out of my head." Skye's foot hits something hard, and she realizes she must have kicked in her sleep.

"Come back."

The scene changes, and they're not in her nightmare place anymore. She won't remember the setting when she wakes up. Again, she's not sure it matters.

The flannel and denim shifts and morphs on her skin, into something impossibly light and flowy, a color she doesn't recognize. A color that doesn't need light to have color. There are marks on her skin- painted on, deep red. They look like blood splatters. There are jewls on her wrists and woven into her hair, which feels stiff and heavy when it's not loose around her shoulders.

Raina is watching her somberly, almost hopefully. "You're too important to throw this away, Skye." She pleads. "Your people need you. Not just your father."

Skye stumbles backwards, and the trinkets on her wrists and throat rattle. "What?" She can't hear her own voice. She can't move. It's like she's swimming through syrrup.

"This is where you belong, Skye. Your sacrifice will save us all."

It takes Skye a moment to realize that Raina isn't calling her by her name. It's an unfamiliar sound, something new and alluring and completely freaking ridiculous. Something fancy and pretentious-sounding, and Skye's not even sure she wants to know what it is.

"Ayan'ri nel-eetha."

She hears a new voice now, aged and distinctly male, and she doesn't need to turn around to know it's her father.

"Ayan'ri nel-eetha. I've... I can't tell you how..."

* * *

><p>The scene changes- maybe Skye's the one to make it happen. But it does change.<p>

She sees a landscape this time- sees fields that aren't fields and trees that aren't trees and she sees that color again, the color that's not a color and she's never been so confused or terrified in her life.

"We'll die without you, Skye!" Raina is chasing her, and there's an army behind her. Her father at the lead. "Come back. Please. I am begging-"

* * *

><p>"Skye!" May's hands, rough and slender and strong hook under Skye's arms, dragging her upwards with a sudden tug. Skye stumbles, falls into her desk, nearly taking out the ancient old Dell computer that she's recently been conspiring to demolish. They're still at the old SHIELD base, the playground. Fitz is still in his lab a few feet away, stapling random sheets of paper together, trying to seem busy. Simmons is constructing a similar project, ignoring his presence in hopes that the awkwardness will magically vanish.<p>

May's hands freeze under Skye's jaw, tilting her head up, lips forming words that Skye can't understand.

"They've found her." Are the first words Skye comprehends.

"What." Is her eloquent response, and Simmons surges forwards to prevent Skye from crumpling onto the floor.

"Steady, now!" Simmons urges, and Fitze moves towards them to assist while Skye uselessly paws at their sleeves and mutters insults, that she's fine, orders for them to go away.

"They've found away to get around her barriers." May is speaking into a Comm cuff now.

"What, like Occulamency?" Skye slurrs. Then she frowns. No.. thats not right...

"Coulson, get down here. Right now. We have a problem."


End file.
